CZ 75 B 50th Anniversary Model in 9mm: Full Review

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the iconic CZ 75 pistol.

November 07, 2025 By Patrick Sweeney

The late Col. Jeff Cooper had no use or love for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, but there was one 9mm pistol for which he had a good word: The CZ 75. Cooper revealed its existence in a one-page article published in Guns & Ammo’s February 1977 issue. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Czech Republic’s independence in 1993, the CZ 75 possessed an aura of secrecy and intrigue among firearm enthusiasts.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-02-1200x800 — (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

For 2025, CZ-USA is offering a CZ 75 B anniversary model. Guns & Ammo first spotlighted the 25th Anniversary CZ 75 on the cover of the August 2000 issue. It was plated in silver and gold, and featured engraving and wooden grips. Again, an anniversary model appeared in G&A or on the covers for the 30th, 35th and 40th anniversaries. Former Shotgun News Senior Editor Peter Kokalis wrote the 40th anniversary feature for G&A’s February 2015 issue. Kokalis’ pistol was a brightly polished example with distinctive purple wooden burl grips and tribal-like engraving. It was limited to 1,000 pieces, and the article was the only time Kokalis wrote for G&A.

Most recently, Editor-in-Chief Eric Poole wrote his column featuring the 45th Anniversary CZ 75 B for the August 2020 issue. It had a gloss blue finish with silver controls, wooden grips and deep engraving throughout. Again, production was limited to 1,000.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-03-1200x800 — The CZ 75 — the original or the 50th Anniversary CZ 75 B edition — can be fired single action (SA), hammer cocked (left); or with the hammer at rest, the CZ 75 B can be fired as a double action (DA), using the trigger to cock and fire the pistol (right). (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

In this modern world of polymer and striker-fired pistols, the CZ 75 is still rarely seen on the range. Unless it gets featured in a video game or within the pages of G&A, many shooters get this puzzled look on their faces when you utter “CZ 75.” They might know the modern iterations, but not the original. The 50th Anniversary edition reminds us of the model’s history.

František Koucký was lured out of retirement as a weapons designer in Czechoslovakia to produce a new 9x19mm pistol for export purposes. Outside of the Warsaw Pact, shooters and military organizations wanted a handgun in 9mm — not the 9x18mm Makarov or the 7.62x25mm Tokarev. Koucký had a free hand in design, and he exceeded expectations.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-04-1200x800 — If the hammer must be carefully lowered to the half-cock notch, you can fire the CZ 75 in DA or by cocking the hammer to SA (left). Unlike DA pistols of the 1970s, the CZ 75 could then (and now) be carried in Condition One: Safety on, hammer cocked (right). (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

In the U.S. by the late 1970s and early ’80s, 9mm pistols were starting to make inroads, but they were almost all built with what later became known as traditional double-action (DA) triggers. The pistol could be fired from its ready state by trigger-cocking it, as with a DA revolver. Once the hammer was cocked, you used the safety or de-cocker to lower the hammer. Having lowered the hammer, your choices were to thumb-cock the hammer or use the trigger in DA mode. Many 1911 users hated DA triggers because they could not be carried in Condition One: cocked and locked. Revolver shooters hated them because there were two different trigger pulls. The DA and single-action (SA) trigger is markedly different in weight and travel. Few loved the de-cocker staying down except police administrators. Spring-loaded de-cockers that automatically returned to fire came later. The CZ 75 changed that. You could, once you lowered the hammer on your own because there was no decocking lever — use the DA trigger to fire it. If you wanted to, you simply used the thumb safety to lock it on safe with the hammer cocked to set Condition One. The slide was locked with the safety on, so that part was familiar. This endeared it to the 1911 users. The revolver shooters were still put out with the two different trigger pulls, but you can’t please everyone.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-05-1200x800 — The slide of the CZ 75 rides inside the frame rails. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

Col. Jeff Cooper’s first article about the then-new CZ 75 appeared in the February 1977 issue. I was a subscriber then, and I’d like to say I remember the review — but I didn’t. He didn’t fire one in for that story, but he did shoot samples later. It was the grip shape that he kept mentioning. It was so much so that when the iconic Bren Ten was designed by Thomas Dornaus and Michael Dixon, it followed the form of the CZ 75, influenced by Cooper.

The CZ 75 uses a frame-to-slide design that puts the rails of the frame on the inside so the slide rides inside of the frame, unlike the Model 1911. This has the effect of reducing slide mass, and thus the CZ 75 has a faster slide movement than slides that ride outside of the frame. (This proved to be problematic in the 1990s when the .40 S&W became popular.) Ejection is brisk. You will not find your empties in a neat pile close to your feet.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-06-1200x800 — The recoil spring and guiderod do not protrude from the slide at full recoil, either. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

The CZ 75 is all-steel, so it was tough enough then and now to make nails look flimsy. Not that 9mm has (or had) much recoil, but that weight does dampen the felt recoil a lot. Then there were the magazines, 15 rounds each. At a time when a 1911 in 9mm held nine-plus-one, the 15-plus-one capacity of the CZ 75 was alluring.

Back then, a 9mm 1911 was not considered reliable, mainly because they weren’t reliable. So, in the 1980s, you could have a reliable, accurate, soft-shooting 9mm that held a lot of ammo. It had a firing system that let you choose between Condition One or DA, but the real selling point of the CZ 75 was the ergonomic grip shape. You thought the extra capacity was tempting? Cooper loved the grip with good reason.

Model 1911 vs. CZ 75

gaad-cz-75-aniv-07-1200x800 — CZ 75 grip panels cover the mainspring assembly. The design is popular enough that aftermarket grip panels are readily available to personalize the pistol. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

The ergonomics of the 1911 are like a classic car with semi-bucket seats. It is comfortable, reliable, dependable, but not sexy. The Browning Hi-Power is the muscle car with bucket seats. The CZ 75 is a vehicle with a Recaro seat that fits you complete with a racing harness. When you sit down, you know you’re going to get some speed on. I have never handed someone a CZ 75 and not gotten “that look.” It just fits, regardless of your hand size or shape. (Yes, it is that good.)

In addition to the gloriously ergonomic frame contours, the thumb safety is perfectly placed to meet your thumb, much like that of the 1911. The slide-stop is a bit of a reach, but you can readily grasp it with the same grip twist you’d use to reach the magazine button, which is also properly placed. Magazines drop free, of course, and it locks open after the last round has been fired.

So why weren’t they all over the place in the 1980s, winning matches and selling like hotcakes, even being in 9mm? Communism. The then-Czechoslovakia was part of the Warsaw Pact, and all manner of goods made behind the Iron Curtain could not be imported to the USA. Canada, yes, but not here. Back then, Canada was a different country than it is today. I spent the 1980s hearing about the various methodologies of getting a Canadian CZ 75 into the U.S. with proper paperwork. All expensive, all with voluminous paperwork, and some kinda sketchy.

It was not until after the Velvet Revolution in November and December 1989 that the CZ 75 could be exported to the U.S., and by then the U.S. firearms market was entirely different. Polymer was king and striker pistols ruled, or at least that’s what we were told. Some things “we all know” just aren’t true, and thumb safeties and steel still work like they did in the past.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-09-1200x800 — The controls are placed exactly where a Model 1911 user would expect them to be, including the slide-lock/slide release lever, thumb safety/de-cocker, and magazine release button. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

50 Years Later

The CZ 75 50th Anniversary is a model known in CZ collector circles as a “CZ 75 B.” For 2025, CZ-USA offers all of its pistols in 50th Anniversary models. The first pistols were made with a forged steel slide and frame, both requiring a lot of machining, and are known as the short-frame CZ 75s. That design lasted for a short time. The next step was the pre-B with forged slides and cast frames (machined to final dimensions), and with a longer frame and rails. The “B” models started in 1993 with the addition of an internal firing pin safety, and the triggerguard and hammer shapes were changed. Gone was the round triggerguard and spur hammer, and in was the squared triggerguard and ring hammer. CZ did not stop evolving the CZ 75 after that, and the range of models is impressive. For the 50th Anniversary edition, they went back to the CZ 75 B, with the internal firing pin safety, triggerguard and hammer changes.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-10-1200x800 — When the CZ 75 became the CZ 75 B, the rounded triggerguard was changed to a squared and serrated profile. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

The markings are also different. The old CZ 75 had proofmarks on the slide behind the extractor, and a simple set of markings on the left side of the slide: “Model 75” and “Made in Czechoslovakia” on the frame. Slide, frame and barrel held the serial number. There’s also a proofmark and year of manufacture. The frame of the new pistol is marked “CZECH REPUBLIC CZ” on the right side. On the left of the slide is “CZ 75 B”, the caliber, the CZ logo. The frame is marked “MODEL 75 50TH ANNIVERSARY”. The commemorative sent to Guns & Ammo differs from the pre-B I own in some ways and is just like it in others. Back then, the CZ 75 received a baked-on black polymer finish, with a lot of lacquer-like shine and durability. The 50th Anniversary pistol has the CZ-USA Polycoat finish, which is not as glossy as the old pistols are. This, I think, is a good thing. As durable as the old finish was/is, it is also just a bit slick. The new Polycoat is not. The magazines are the updated ones, and they hold 16 rounds. Your 50th Anniversary will come with a pair of them. The CZ 75 has been around long enough and been evolved enough that you will not lack for choices in magazines. The newer ones can be had in even-greater capacity.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-11-1200x800 — The CZ 75 of any version is easy to disassemble. An improvement versus the Model 1911 is the lack of a barrel link. The CZ 75 barrel incorporates an angled slot to lift and lower the barrel. Modern magazines hold one more round (16) than the original (15), and extended mags offer even greater capacities. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

How strong is the CZ 75? In the early 1990s, there were many United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) and International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) shooters who built them up as Open-class guns. They shot gallons of hot-loaded 9mm and 9x21mm ammo through their CZs (and clones of the CZ), and the guns held up just fine.

Now, not all things 1970s were great. The trigger is pure 1975. For the time, and compared to what you could have had back then, the CZ 75 trigger was marvelous — a revelation. To risk being seen as much of a trigger snob as Handgun Editor Jim Tarr, the SA trigger of the 50th Anniversary has grit and creep in it. The DA trigger is long and has an interesting decrease in pressure halfway through, which almost guarantees your trigger finger is going to slam into the back of the triggerguard. I weighed the trigger pull of the sample CZ 75 B sent to G&A and compared it to my pre-B model. The single actions pulls were as if they had been built the same day.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-12-1200x800 — The sights on the CZ 75 B 50th Anniversary model are a tribute to the original. The three-dot, fixed front post, drift-adjustable rear notch were functional and reliable. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

At 4 pounds, 10 ounces, the hammer falls. The DA trigger differs, with mine requiring 9 pounds, 13 ounces, and the 50th Anniversary model taking a pound more and change. However, mine has probably been dry-fired half a bazillion times. The trigger pull is correctible if you desire. Just call Angus Hobdell at CZ Custom; he can tune yours up. In the 1980s, there were a lot of revolver ’smiths who could not bring your DA trigger pull to less than 10 pounds, and the CZ 75 50th Anniversary almost did that right out of the box. As far as the two trigger pulls “problem,” that one was solved a long time ago with practice and training, as demonstrated by the CZ IPSC team in many World Shoots. I’ve watched Eric Grauffel — not Czech, by the way, but using a CZ pistol — Pavel Jasansky and Petr Znamenacek among many others win medals having mastered the two trigger pulls.

gaad-cz-75-aniv-13-1200x800 — The external extractor is as tough as the rest of the CZ 75. Note that the finish does not coat the inside of the steel slide. (Photo by Michael Anschuetz)

One aspect I found in testing was that the low bore axis and the all-steel construction made a day of shooting 9mm as much fun at the end as it was during the beginning. That led me to drag out my pre-B CZ 75 — made in 1984 if the proofmarks are to be believed — and have even more fun. If you don’t have one, here’s your chance. If you already have one, put the old collectible away and shoot the new collectible. How many will CZ make? As many as shooters want — but only in 2025. The next time the ball drops in Times Square, there will be no more 50th Anniversary models made.